How to Grow Your Organic Lettuce

GardenWeb

Soil Prep. Prepare the soil first. Lettuce needs a lot of nitrogen, so make sure the soil is well fertilized, with pH balance at least 6 to 6.8. But you don't have to fuss about that. Simply spray the soil with our Rapha Humus organic liquid fertilizer as you cultivate it and turn it inside out. Spray liberally to make sure of the soil's nutrition content and alkalinity. Most soils are acidic. This fertilizer has nitrogen and microorganism that "catch" nitrogen in the air.

Plus, your compost adds a bit more nitrogen and other nutrients. And till and cultivate the soil to make it soft and well drained (or to make water easily seep into it).


Seed Planting in Garden Plot. Then plant the lettuce seeds about an inch or so into the soil. Lettuce plants have short roots so you don't need to plant them deeper into the soil. Then cover the seeds with about 1.3 cm soil. Then cover that with your organic compost, about 3 or 4 inches high. Composts keep soil moist and stop weeds from growing. Just make sure the compost is organic. Don't mix anything cooked when composting because anything cooked and rots becomes acidic.

Thin Out. Then, when the tiny plants have appeared, the plants should be from 5 to 8 or even 12 inches apart. So, thin out the small plants. This means removing some of them and replanting them so that they have enough spaces between them, not clustered. This is especially so if you use organic Rapha Humus fertilizer which tends to increase the size of the leaves and the plant itself.

Spraying. Spray the organic foliar fertilizer on the leaves. Do this regularly, ideally three times a day. Rapha Humus organic fertilizer has zero photoxicity or photoirritation---a condition where the plants, and especially the leaves, become "burnt" due to the reaction of the fertilizer to sunlight especially during noon. Rapha Humus does nto have this problem. So, you can spray at different times of the day, especially if you want harvests with abnormally big sizes. No overdose.

Per spray bottle, use 2 tablespoons of Rapha Humus for both soil application and foliar (spray).

Watering. But watering should be done early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Never water at noon or during hot times of the day. And water gently, being careful not to flood the soil. Make sure the plants are watered enough, though.

With Rapha Humus, green leafy vegetables often take only 3 weeks to reach their full potential and for harvest, with big impressive leaves and delightful taste.

Pesticide. How about pests? Well, it has been observed that pests hate the smell of organic fertilizers, especially our Rapha Humus. So, when sprayed on the plants, it also act as organic insect repellent.

In Containers. If you plant lettuce in containers, make sure the soil is replenished well (about every week) with compost and sprayed regularly with organic liquid fertilizer.

This same procedure is good for pechay and mustard and other similar plants.